Chris McDaniel on Environment

Supported Katrina relief, but some funds were misspent

McDaniel repeatedly ducked questions about whether he would have voted for a Hurricane Katrina relief bill that McDaniel also described as laden with pork. "I would have to see the details of it," McDaniel said. "That's not an easy vote to cast."

Pressed on the 2005 Katrina bill specifically, he conceded: "I probably would have supported it," adding that "some of the money [in the Katrina bill] was misspent." When it comes to government spending, he argued, "It's one thing to provide immediate
storm relief and to protect people's lives and property, it's quite another to benefit campaign supporters."

Asked whether there was a specific instance of government abuse he had in mind, McDaniel responded: "Not that I can say. I think the people of
the coast understand that some of the money was misspent," he said. "I'm not alleging that Sen. Cochran misspent it."

A campaign spokesman reached out the morning after the interview to "clarify that Chris would've been a yes vote on the disaster bill.

Uphold property rights; oppose Supreme Court's Kelo decision

In contrast to most of the conservatives challenging Republican senators in primaries, McDaniel has been in elective office and state politics for several years. He won his state Senate seat in 2007 and has won widespread praise for his championship
of a bill to uphold property rights in response to the Supreme Court's Kelo decision. The bill was vetoed by McDaniel's fellow Republican, then-Gov. Haley Barbour, but the veto was over-ridden by a statewide initiative.